Trading Habits: Learning to Ask Winning Questions?

This morning, I was tuning in to my local business station and the topic for the day was about Learning How to Ask the Right Business Question. Questions that the speaker mentioned were fairly broad and, to be fair, they covered more than the normal business context. For example, they were discussing questions which included interview questions as well as personal development questions.

My initial thought was that I couldn’t figure out who the target audience were initially and why the radio station had to have such a discussion on a Monday morning. After listening for awhile, it suddenly struck upon me that asking questions is actually a habit and it is not unusual that many people don’t practice it. Hence, the general public people will find it useful. Of course, there will be some who are in the habit of doing it and they are usually the curious minded ones.

Thinking about it right now, the speaker on the radio station gave some really good examples which I thought was useful in our trading routine too and, hence, I thought I should elaborate on this in today’s article.

What is a Winning Question?

Let’s start by explaining the question of the day – what is a winning question? In case you’re wondering because you are, let’s try this as a start – A winning question is a question that you need to ask, so that, if you were to ask (and answer) the question successfully, the answer will give you a positively stated and action oriented solution that will help you achieve your goals easily and effortlessly.

In case you’re not clear about the definition, let’s break this down a little bit because reading it a few times, you will realise that it’ll make more and more sense to comprehend. The follow are some key components of making it easier to work.

Keeping it Simple

The key here is to keep the question as simple as possible. The conscious mind can only absorb +/- 7 bits of information. That means, the mind absorbs simple things easily and having a simple focus is crucial. Mind you, I am actually referring to the content of the question that needs to be simple and not talking about the process of formulating the question.

A simple and clear question should be formulated so that it does not presuppose anything. In other words, you don’t want a question that already has an answer in it. For example, “Should I buy the red or blue car?” The question presupposes that you either buy a red or blue car but does not allow you to choose beyond those options.

Instead, you should ask a simple question of – “What colour should I buy?” This question, on the other hand, is an open space. By doing that, you will start searching deep within you the answer that you want. While this might take a slightly longer time, it also means that your mind is working in your favour because it is going within inside you to search of memories of colours that you actually like.

Positively Stated

This is probably the most important point of today. If you want to successfully ask winning trading questions, start by asking questions that will give you a positively stated answer. In other words, you want an answer that will help you move towards your goal and not away from your problems.

A simple exercise to get you started is by having a good routine. And it is crucial that if you want to have a good trading routine, you should start your day by asking yourself, “What kind of trades do I take, so that, if I were to take those trades today, I will become a successful trader in the long term”? An example of what you should not ask is – “What kind of trades that I need to avoid because those trades will cause me to lose money?” The former gives your unconscious mind a statement that will lay the focus of the day while the latter will only help you avoid mistakes. While avoiding mistakes is good, unfortunately it would stray your attention away from what you want to achieve.

Remember that your unconscious mind is like a sponge and it will take in anything you take. If you were to focus on anything you don’t want, it will store those memories that you don’t want as well.

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Action Orientated

It has to be action (and goal) oriented. Remember the topic of winning beliefs (see article)? Winning beliefs are very important in trading. However, a belief without action is nothing more than a stagnant belief and that belief will neither grow nor develop you further. In fact, the opposite can happen because you can start to develop less positive beliefs instead.

A simple question like “What do I need to do today to achieve my trading goals in the longer term?” will be a great start. While the question is wide open, this gives you the opportunity to think about it and to formulate simple actions that are easy to achieve. For example, when I asked my self that question, answers that I formulate includes:

Check my trading rules before trading

Check my trading plan before trading

Analyse the bigger timeframe to give me clarity of the directional bias for the day

Keeping my analysis simple and to enjoy the rest of my day as soon as I’ve finished my analysis

These are just some simple actions that you may take into your trading routine if you wish to.

Keep Asking

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the answer, I would spend the first 55 minutes figuring out the proper questions to ask. For if I knew the proper questions, I could solve the problem in less than 5 minutes.” – Albert Einstein,

Remember that there is no such thing as a silly question, so if you want to achieve greatness, than I challenge you to ask relentlessly. Keep asking yourself the questions that will give you great answers. Change the perspective of the questions or even change the tone of your voice if you need to. This is important because once you have the right question; the answer will be incredibly impactful to your trading.

Conclusion

If you truly belief that having the right questions is important, then you know that you want to start generating useful questions now because, sooner or later, you will realise that asking the right questions are extremely important, not just in trading, but in life in general as well.

With that, I would like to invite you to start practising by asking the winning trading questions today. Keep practising and it will become a habit one day. Thank you for reading and happy questionings from now!!